2015 macbook pro retina 13 windows#

The MacBook Pro's 13.3-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel display is crisp and far brighter than almost every other notebook we've tested.Īccording to Apple, the 128GB PCI-based flash memory in the 2015 MacBook Pro is up to two times faster than last year's model, and in our testing, nearly lived up to the claim. I had to be more careful when pressing down, but activating tap-to-click (a feature I regularly use on other notebooks) helped alleviate inadvertent Force Touches. After trying all three levels, I preferred the lightest setting not only was it easier on my fingers, but it also made less noise.

I'm glad you can adjust the force required to press down on the touchpad. but press a little harder, and you feel the second click, which engages the extra features. When you press on the pad, you first feel the click of the first layer - which lets you select text, icons, etc. The Force Touch takes a little adjustment. However, Apple is releasing the API for Force Touch, so expect it to be available for more applications in the future. For example, it's not compatible with Google Docs, and it doesn't work in other browsers, such as Chrome. However, Force press doesn't work everywhere. When in the Web version of Outlook, Force-pressing on a word displayed its definition in a pop-up window. In Facebook, pressing on a news post opened the article in a second smaller window - too small to be practical to read -but it also let me add the article to my Reading List. For example, in Safari, I clicked on Kathy Griffin's name, and a small window appeared with a WIkipedia summary.

2015 macbook pro retina 13 windows#

Dell's non-touch version of the XPS 13 and HP's Spectre x360 are examples of Windows laptops with Broadwell processors that also score very highly, each running close to 12 hours.The second benefit of the Taptic Engine is that it has two levels of sensitivity, which lets you deep-press to activate additional features. We tried running the same test with the system's Wi-Fi antenna active, and it ran for about 13 hours. In our standard video playback battery drain test, the 2015 MacBook Pro ran for 15 hours and 46 minutes, only 40 minutes behind our all-time leader, the 2014 13-inch MacBook Air.

But, both this new model and a 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2014 led in most of our tests (note that the 15-inch Pro from 2014 had a more powerful, but older, Core i7 processor and twice the RAM, at 16GB), although Apple's promise of a faster hard drive didn't help this system in our Photoshop test, where it groups with other Broadwell systems and last year's MacBook Air.Īpple has promised an extra hour or so of battery life from the Broadwell leap, and we were very impressed with the lifespan of this system. These new CPUs have made greater gains in efficiency, which can lead to better battery life. For this 2015 model, the jump to Intel's Broadwell line of fifth-generation Core i-series CPUs, in this case a Core i5-5257U, didn't move the needle much on application performance, but we didn't expect it to. MacBook laptops, especially the Pro models, which generally have faster CPU options and more RAM, always perform well in our benchmark tests. Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display (13-inch, 2015) That leaves this 13-inch Pro as the best balance of performance, battery life, portability and expandability in the current Apple laptop lineup, and one of the first places you should look if you're looking to buy a premium-priced laptop. There's a lot of buzz around the new 12-inch MacBook, but its low-power Intel Core M processor, lack of ports and low-res webcam mean it likely won't be the workhorse that other Macs are. The classic non-Retina-Display MacBook Pro is surprisingly still hanging on as the last MacBook with an optical drive, but it has little else to recommend it. The current Air models are held back by aging designs and low screen resolutions, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro has not received the same updates or new trackpad, and is simply too big to lug around more than once or twice a week (although it's great for a desk-bound system). It's perhaps because this model has best kept up with the changing laptop landscape.